Field notes from Better Way 2026

We brought a camera, a notebook, and one question for every practitioner we met at Better Way 2026: who do you trust, and why.

The conference ran May 29 to 31 at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick, Rhode Island, hosted by the World Council for Health, with Tess Lawrie and Jennifer Hibberd anchoring the program and Del Bigtree on stage. We came because the room was the room we wanted to be in: independent clinicians, midwives, doulas, chiropractors, energy workers, and a handful of tool builders quietly rewiring how care happens outside the hospital and insurance system.

Dave Oates is a longtime crisis communications strategist who has spent decades helping people and organizations tell the truth under pressure. He is one of the voices we trust on how this movement talks to the public, and he was on the floor in Warwick the whole weekend.

What we actually did there

Three things, on repeat. We shot free headshots between sessions for any attendee who wanted one. We had short conversations in the hallways, usually a couple of minutes between talks, and a few longer sit-downs when the schedule allowed. And we photographed the floor, because the floor is where the real conference happens.

Every photograph we took belongs to the person in it. We are not selling them. We are not licensing them. If you sat for a headshot, your images are waiting in your account the moment you sign in with the email you gave us at the table.

Who we met

Tammy Arthur, CNHP, founder of The Wellness Blanket, pulled us aside on day two to talk about EMF-shielding blankets and bedding, the work she has been quietly building for years, and why she stopped explaining herself to skeptics a long time ago. Her listing is on the directory now; her photos are in her account.

We talked with practitioners we had only known by name. We met tool builders who are quietly making the back office of an independent practice less terrible. We watched the same conversation about trust, transparency, and what verified actually means happen at three different tables in three different rooms.

What we are publishing

Field notes, longer profiles, a piece on EMF and the practitioners thinking carefully about it, and a separate piece on what holistic health actually means when you strip the marketing language off. Those land here over the next several weeks, in this same feed.

What to do next

If we met you at the conference, sign in with the email you gave us. Your headshots are sitting in your media tab, and you can use them on your listing, on your own site, or wherever you publish. There is no upsell attached.

If you are a practitioner who was not at the conference but should have been, the application is open. Listings are free. There is no pay-to-list and there never will be.

If you are a patient, every practitioner we verified in person is in the directory now. Start there.